AN UPDATE TO MY PROBLEM WITH MYHERITAGE.COM
I said I would update this board regarding the problems we were having with MyHeritage.com, and I want to do so fairly.
First - They aren't ripoffs, and do seem to be a genuine business as well as avid genealogists. They are going to refund my purchase price of a 4-year membership, and Gilad (the founder) offered to let me continue to use the site for free. Also...by the end of yesterday, I had another member by the name of Jaiel writing me to offer personal assistance with our problems.
I would have done this, and not asked for a refund if it wasn't for the deafening silence when asking for help all last week, and I will also add that I asked for a refund on Thursday, an I didn't get an answer to that until American Express started the dispute. There is no excuse whatsoever for a lack of response to all of our queries, both mine and my sister's. It shouldn't take a full week, and have a request for a chargeback to wake up the MyHeritage team.
Now...the software is free, and works very well, and is user friendly. The website is the issue. When you reach a certain number of tree entries, it will overwrite unless you pay for storage (and this is where we bought the 4-year deal which seemed to be a great bargain for a web presence). As it turns out, it's only a little better than rootsweb, which is free.
It still works very well, until you reach another number. At that point, it's not so user friendly, and while you the researcher might be able to easily navigate...forget it for your family and visitors. Gilad said they are working on changing the front-page viewing features as they had other users raise issue (see...it wasn't just me)!!!
Over the weekend another separate problem arose. I have about 60 photos attached, Castles, renditions of Kings & Queens of England, etc. Anyhow, my sister reported that they were no longer viewable. I checked it, and I could see them, but only about half. By Sunday morning...they were completely gone. (I'm not an expert, but is smells of storage issues). Both Jaiel and Gilad saw it, and had no explanation other than for me to reload them.
My advice is this - until they work everything out, and then clearly explain how the site will or won't perform at different levels, I'd stay away from paying for anything. I think that the problem of unacceptable customer support has just been addressed, and they will be careful not to ignore anyone in the future, so I think that buck might have stopped with me.
I hope this helps all of you with regards to any web service offering storage. You hate to be one who asks a million questions, but, if the site is not clearly stating things, then those questions probably need to be asked, especially before parting with your money.
Thanks to the Administrator for allowing these posts.
All the Best to the Board...and Happy Thanksgiving from the United States.
Bill Hartzell
Rydal, PA USA